Jeffrey Ashby

Jeffrey Shears "Bones" Ashby (born June, 1954) is an engineer, former American naval aviator and astronaut, a veteran of three space shuttle missions. He is a retired Captain in the U.S. Navy Jeff Ashby grew up in Evergreen, Colorado, southwest of Denver, and graduated from Evergreen High School in 1972. He attended the University of Idaho, earning a B.S. in mechanical engineering in 1976. He later earned a master's degree in aviation systems fro... more

Jeffrey Shears "Bones" Ashby (born June, 1954) is an engineer, former American naval aviator and astronaut, a veteran of three space shuttle missions. He is a retired Captain in the U.S. Navy Jeff Ashby grew up in Evergreen, Colorado, southwest of Denver, and graduated from Evergreen High School in 1972. He attended the University of Idaho, earning a B.S. in mechanical engineering in 1976. He later earned a master's degree in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee in 1993. Ashby is a 1986 graduate of the Naval Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun) and the Naval Test Pilot School. As a test pilot in the U.S. Navy, Ashby helped develop the F/A-18 aircraft and flew the aircraft in combat missions as part of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Southern Watch during and after the Gulf War and as part of Operation Continue Hope in Somalia. He was the Navy Attack Aviator of the Year in 1991. Ashby commanded a fighter squadron stationed aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln; in 1994, his... less